Jacqueline Bisset is magnificent – in so many ways.
In a career spanning 58 years and a portfolio that includes about 50 films, the 78-year-old actress shows no signs of slowing down.
Jacqueline Bisset has been one of my role models since I was a very little girl, my parents just loved her. To me, she really is one of the few actresses that represent the glamour that Hollywood once had.
I admire her aging naturally and always thought she had a very natural beauty and sex appeal. She never wore tons of makeup.
Throughout her storied career, the brown-haired beauty, known for her high cheekbones and striking green eyes, has demonstrated her versatility by playing a range of characters including the sultry seductress Miss Goodthighs in the spy parody Casino Royale (1967), a devoted mother in Sleepy Time Gal (2001), First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in America’s Prince: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story (2003) and Anna Karenina (1985) in the sweeping love story of the same name, where she starred opposite Christopher Reeves.
Bisset made her first on-screen appearance in Roman Polanski’s Cul-de-Sac (1966) and gained notoriety in 1968 when she starred in back-to-back films in one single year: Detective with crooner Frank Sinatra, Bullitt with Steven McQueen, and her Golden Globe-nominated performance in The Sweet Ride with Tony Franciosa and Bob Denver, who’s famously known as Gilligan on Gilligan’s Island.
You’ll also recognize her from her performances in Day for Night (1973), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Deep (1977), Wild Orchid (1990), her Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated role in Joan of Arc (1999), her Golden Globe-winning role in the miniseries Dancing on the Edge (2013), Miss You Already (2015) and Birds of Paradise (2021).
In 2010, the multilingual actor–she speaks English, French and Italian–was awarded the Legion of Honor, the highest state order in France, and in 2023, Sedona International Film Festival recognized Bisset with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Despite filming with some of Hollywood’s hottest men, Bisset has never been married. The stunning woman was pursued by Frank Sinatra, and rumors swirled that she was involved with Bullitt co-star, Hollywood bad boy, Steve McQueen. But Bisset, a proper English lady, said they were too different.
Referring to McQueen, she said in an interview with the Daily Mail, “He was attractive, but a little scary. I was very English and he was a hip American. The way he talked would have driven me mad–I didn’t know what a dude or a soul chick was!”
She’s had long-term relationships with Canadian actor Michael Sarrazin, the ballet dancer Alexander Godunov and actor Vincent Pérez, but she admits she’s too independent for anything permanent.
In an interview with the Independent, Bisset said, “I’ve had some very interesting men in my life. They have been a handful. I don’t choose easy men, I’m told.” She continued, “Sometimes you get too much information when you spend time with people. You start to see things–bad habits. You start to discover them and then you have to marry bad habits and I’m not sure I can cope with them. I don’t ever have bad relationships. I haven’t broken up angry. I’ve just moved out of situations that have been overwhelming.”
Though Bisset–Godmother to Angelina Jolie–hasn’t made headlines for having outrageous relationships, she was trending after she won the Golden Globe for her portrayal as Lady Cremone in the BBC series Dancing on the Edge.
Her acceptance speech, with the background music playing to signal her off the stage, was mostly filled with ramblings but demonstrated genuine gratitude from the then 69-year-old, who had been waiting 47 years to win, since her first nomination for best newcomer.
Since then, she starred as a sassy femme fatale in the French thriller The Lodger (2020), and most recently, she appeared in the film Loren & Rose (2022). Bisset plays the lead character Rose, a legendary actor trying to re-establish her career, who’s bound by a reputation that casts her as being a “little zany and a bit unreliable.”
According to the film’s director Russell Brown, the character of Rose is the opposite of Bisset in real life. Brown said, “Viewers often assume that Jacqueline is ‘like she is in the movie.’ But this really isn’t the case–as an actress and a woman, I think she is quite different from Rose, and it’s a testament to her skill that the transformation feels so seamless.”
Bisset is a timeless beauty who embraces aging with grace. In her infamous Golden Globes speech, she said: ‘I believe, if you want to look good, you’ve got to forgive everybody. It’s the best beauty treatment.’
She’s also said that though in her youth she had “lots of complexes” she was never tempted by plastic surgery. “I don’t think it makes you look younger. It makes you different,” said Bisset.
James Earl Jones, acclaimed actor and voice of Darth Vader, dead at 93
James Earl Jones, the beloved stage and screen actor who lent his iconic, deep voice to Darth Vader in Star Wars and Mufasa in The Lion King, has died at 93.
Regarded as one of the best actors of his generation, Jones’ career spanned Shakespeare to Hollywood hits. He is one of the few actors to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony Award.
The actor’s death was reported by Deadline, via his representatives at Independent Artist Group.
James Earl Jones was born January 17, 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi and raised by his grandparents in Dublin, Michigan. While he would later become one of the most famous voices in the world, he says he suffered from a stutter in his youth.
“I was a stutterer. I couldn’t talk,” Jones recalled in a 1996 interview. “So my first year of school was my first mute year, and then those mute years continued until I got to high school.” A teacher encouraged him to overcome his stutter by reading poetry aloud.
Jones served in the US Army during the Korean War, and after decided to pursue a career in acting. He studied at the American Theatre Wing, working as a janitor to support himself. By the 1960s, Jones was establishing himself as one of his generation’s great Shakespearean actors, playing roles like Othello and King Lear. He also made his film debut in Stanley Kubrick’s classic 1964 comedy Dr. Strangelove, as bombadier Lt. Lothar Zogg.
In 1967, he played a boxer in The Great White Hope, winning the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. He reprised the role in the 1970 film version, receiving his first Academy Award nomination.
Amidst all his acclaimed acting work, Jones soon landed his most well-known and iconic role — one where he didn’t even have to appear on set: voicing the villainous Darth Vader in Star Wars. While Vader was played in costume by David Prowse, Jones dubbed over the lines with his own deep bass voice, helping to create one of the most famous characters in movie history.
While Jones originally opted to go uncredited for the role, it has become perhaps his most famous performance. He continued to voice Vader for decades, in the two sequels The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, the prequel Revenge of the Sith and the spin-off Rogue One. In 2022, Jones retired from the role, but signed an agreement for his voice to be used in future projects using artificial intelligence and archive recordings.
Jones also provided the voice of another beloved movie character, Mufasa in the 1994 Disney film The Lion King. Jones later reprised the role in the 2019 remake.
Throughout the ’80s and ’90s, Jones appeared in many Hollywood films, including Conan the Barbarian, Coming to America, Field of Dreams, and The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and The Sandlot. He also won his second Tony Award, starring in the original production of August Wilson’s Fences.
He received eight Emmy Award nominations for his television work, winning twice in 1991: Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for Heat Wave and Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Gabriel’s Fire.
Jones also continued to perform on Broadway: over the past 20 years he starred in revivals of On Golden Pond, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Driving Miss Daisy, The Best Man and You Can’t Take it With You.
Jones was the recipient of many awards and honors throughout his acclaimed career. He received an Honorary Academy Award in 2011, making him one of the only people to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award, known as “EGOT.” Broadway’s Cort Theatre was renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre in his honor in 2022.
Rest in peace to the iconic James Earl Jones, one of the greatest actors of our time — please share this
Leave a Reply